The Headache
by Leax
Summary: It's been a long, busy week. Loki just wants to read a book in peace, and Darcy has the headache with a capital H. Definitely fun times. Especially if a God of Mischief can manage to give even an aspirin a headache.


_**Firstly, I planned on doing a series of one-shots centering around my OTP. Tasertricks. But, until I decide whether I should make a collection of one-shots, totally unrelatable to one another, this will be kept as an one-shot. For now, as I happen to have quite some ideas for fics. It's my first time writing in Thor/Avengers fandom, and I'm sincerely hoping I did at least a solid job on it. English isn't my first language so I'm apologizing for any grammar mistakes or misspelled words.**_

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He hummed lightly to himself as he turned another page of the book he'd been reading for the past two hours. He was comfortably nestled on bed, buried in blankets and soft pillow to support his head. It had been a busy week, full of rather annoying S.H.I.E.L.D. meetings, wary and suspicious looks from Fury and to put it right, even if he didn't do much else than lurk in the background or a shadow – still not too used being trusted by Thor's fellow mortal friends – he was seriously glad the week's been over.

He wondered quietly to himself if redemption was worth it. Not that he cared, obviously. The tesseract did a fairy good job with messing with his mind and it did take quite some time to shake the control the scepter had over him off.

He turned another page and allowed a small smile to play on his lips every now and then. It was rare for him to find something he was devoted to with all his heart, but books always managed to cheer him up. Even if just a little.

His emerald eyes scanned the pages, absorbing every single word and letter, memorizing everything somewhere at the back of his mind, just like thousands other books and other sorts of literature that he had read in his long immortal life.

This was his kind of an ideal day; lying or sitting somewhere peaceful and comfortable, be it a bed or a grassy ground of his mother's rich garden, while he enjoyed in reading a good book or two. Especially his loving mother always encouraged him to seek for knowledge, as it was a key to many things in the world, valued more than gold and no one could ever steal it away from you. It was just another trait he shared with mother, besides his magic that he quickly mastered with her help.

So books and reading were more than less, always his passion, even when he was just a little child, he often sneaked past the guards in the palace's library where he spent most of his days. Although Odin, often found the idea of his second son favoring magic and tricks over strength and weapons rather ridiculous and too feminine for a prince and a future-to-be warrior, his mother always stood for him, encouraging him to continue doing what he preferred. Thor maybe was a better warrior, had strength and was more suitable for fight with weapons, but Loki always preferred magic and tricks.

He didn't notice the door opening quietly as he was either too deep in a book or thoughts to pay attention to his surroundings.

A dark haired girl groggily walked in the room, her unsteady, clumsy steps were enough for him to look over his book at her when she literally threw herself on bed next to him, wincing as she did so. His emerald eyes stared at her in confusion for a few moments, asking for an explanation for her state but he carelessly returned to his book when he realized he wasn't getting any from her.

He sighed and turned another page. His eyes darted down to the bottom right part of the book and he frowned when he realized that he would soon finish it. The book was fascination to say at least, it wasn't some dumb crappy drabble that was popular now all around the world, with a weak plot-line, no further explanation of events and underdeveloped characters. No, this book was truly fascinating, a masterpiece and Loki had a hard time believing that a mere mortal was capable of writing something so intriguing.

A hand accidentally hit his head and he shot an annoyed look at the mortal woman next to him. She turned around now, facing the white ceiling as her face uncomfortably twisted in what Loki assumed must be pain.

As he sneaked another glance at her, he had to admit she did not look her best. Her face was pale and with dark circles under her eyes, she seemed like she hadn't slept in days. Though, due to all the work at the agency, that could also be true. Her long, slightly curvy brown hair was messy and unkempt, though that didn't seem to bother her at all. Her plump red lips, feverish looking cheeks and dark bags under her eyes literally stood out.

She groaned and brought up her hand to massage her forehead, seemingly trying hard to lessen the pain, but unfortunately it was obvious she was failing miserably. Loki would have grinned if not for another hand that came in unpleasant touch with his head.

Darcy turned around, stretching her long arms, like a cat, trying to gain as much space as it possibly could…possibly just to annoy the human owner who was the second occupant of the bed which was soon dominated by the furry little creature. Sneaky little creatures. He got familiar with them, as Darcy often brought stray cats in her apartment and kept them in until she could find them a proper loving home.

A simple cat was a reason why he often ended up sleeping on couch, so he sure got some vendetta going on with cats.

"Do you mind?" he asked calmly, acting like he wasn't even a bit interested into what was the reason behind his favourite mortal's condition. "I'm trying to read here."

Her blue eyes slowly opened, grudgingly looking at him with her tired blue eyes "And I'm trying to survive."

Loki rose an eyebrow "Survive what?"

Darcy groaned loudly and buried her head deeply in soft, cold pillows "The most monstrous of all things possible to exist. A devil himself could not come up with such evilness." She paused for a moment knowing she caught his interest, but hadn't figured it out yet. "A headache, Loki. I have a terrible headache."

"Oh." Was his only reply as he nodded in understanding, looking away.

The dark haired woman frowned and looked at him. "Oh?" she stared at him "Is that all you can say?"

He shrugged. He was a God after all, and having a headache was something uncommon for him. "Can it possibly be that bad?"

"Oh you have _no _idea." She replied, feeling sorry for herself "My head is the size of a whale and my ears ring so loudly I might as well be deaf." She whined loudly and rolled over, burying her head back in pillows "Voldemort must be close."

Loki blinked in confusion "Who?"

"Lord Voldemort," she replied, her voice muffled. The God of Mischief made no indications that he got it. Irritated, she tried to find the right words to describe him, "You know…that evil dude from Harry Potter? He-who-must-not-be-named?" she asked and only received a confused stare, "The dude who's missing a nose? The one, you know who tried to kill Harry and-Ahh forget it." She sighed in frustration, giving up. She knew she should of have brought him Harry Potter books to read. Loki could be all mischief and tricks, immaturity overload sometimes, but once he gets hooked up onto some book, you won't see him until he read every single literature that had connections with it.

"It doesn't matter, the point is, I'm dying here, and you are not helping." She replied.

The emerald haired God shrugged and returned to his book. "I'm not trying to help."

"I figured." Came her muffled reply "This is the end, this is how I die."

Loki couldn't help but let a chuckle escape his throat, as he watched the mortal woman over exaggerate, but not bothered to move his eyes from the book.

"You find this funny, huh?" she sharply narrowed eyes at him, but instantly regretted it when another sharp wave of pain shot through her.

"Everything is entertaining as long as it is happening to somebody else." He simply replied, flipping a page on his book.

"God you're such an ass." She whined and buried her face as deep in pillow as she possibly could manage to, trying hard to ignore the throbbing pain.

Loki said nothing in reply, allowing himself to enjoy the last few pages of the book that managed to captivate him, like no other piece of literature he had read so far. Though, even if he tried hard not to, he felt a tingling, annoying feeling of strange sensation at the bottom of his stomach as he looked at the hurting mortal next to him. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Although he wasn't very familiar with headaches, he dared not to question the pain level she had to bear at the moment.

He stole another glance at her, and back at the book, he's been reading for the past few hours, battling with his inner egoism, like never before. The soft mixture between groan and whine, made him decide. He carefully marked the page he left at, and closed the book, placing it on the night table on his right. He sighed, wondering what had gotten into him, to let a mere mortal interrupt him, while doing something he loved the most, before he rolled over to look at the woman next to him.

The mortal was quite an interesting creature, a good rival to him in sarcasm and wit, something what he found enjoyable and somehow, dare he say, attractive. He was also grateful for her, as she offered him a place to stay months ago, when Jane couldn't bear with two Gods living in her small apartment.

Daring to say, Darcy was quite an attractive woman. It wasn't only her personality and her never ending sack full of sarcasm and humor that was appealing to him. Most Asgardian women would kill for her figure and he could completely understand them why. The woman was still an attractive mystery to him, but was glad he managed to befriend her.

He reached forward and pulled a curl of dark hair behind her ear, earning a confused blink in return.

"Maybe you should seek for help." He said simply. "A medicine perhaps."

Darcy blinked once, twice but shook with head. "I'm just exhausted. Though I've already taken Aspirin and it did zero help."

He shrugged "Maybe you should take more of it."

She pulled away, her blue eyes looking slightly dazed back at him, "Listen buddy, aspirin is perfectly legal, but if you take 13 of them it'll be your last headache." She replied "And I'm not so fond of an idea of dying any soon. Still have a few good years ahead."

Loki said nothing in return, silently wishing he could be of more use. When he and Thor were but a children, they were both prone to catching sickness of any sorts, giving their mother one hell of a job to watch over her sick sons. Especially Loki was a magnet to it, his low immune system never doing him any good.

He sighed "Do you require anything?"

The dark haired woman was quiet for a few moments, wishing for the short moment of silence and relaxation to last forever. "No, thanks. All I need now is some peace, sleep…and cold. Cold would be good." She whined suddenly wishing for a cold towel to place on her throbbing forehead. Coldness always seemed to give her comfort at times like that.

Loki nodded, deciding to leave the woman to rest and sleep the pain away. He was about to reach for his book when an idea crossed his mind. His emerald eyes almost widened in surprise at his own thought, but decided not to show.

"If you may, maybe I could be of help." He said, not fully understanding what was he doing, but he went with it.

Darcy opened her eyes to look at him, but closed them the second after. The bright light was too sharp and strong for her liking and squinting did not help her at all, only managed to increase her headache.

"No offense Loki, but you can manage to give an aspirin a headache." She mumbled quietly and he felt a small smile tug on the corners of his lips. "Except…" she opened her eyes again, but just a little, ",if you can do your magic voodoo trick."

Her voice was almost hopeful, and Loki would of have laughed if the circumstances were different. "I am afraid I have to disappoint you Miss Lewis," she looked at him quizzical when he used her last name, knowing full well he was teasing her again. "I'm unable to do that, but maybe I do have a different solution for your problem."

She was about to ask what was he thinking about, suddenly a bit unsure if she should trust a God of Mischief and Lies to help her. God knows what was he planning on doing, and she certainly hoped she didn't manage to get on his bad side a few months ago when she tried to prank him with a blond hair color shampoo.

It didn't end up well, as the trickster somehow managed to discover her prank and used it against her. Luckily, the color was easily washed away, sparing her the humiliation.

A comfortable sensation of something cold and soft on her forehead, drew a short sight of relief from her. She relaxed, feeling grateful for whatever trick he managed to do, that it was working. She could almost actually feel her muscles relax under the cold, while the pain lessened drastically.

"You're rather warm." She heard him mumble, and opened eyes. She had to take a double take and yet still hadn't believed it. Sure the headache was probably messing with her mind, because there was no other explanation for why would Loki place his hand on her forehead with concern unmasked on his face.

Her eyes widened comically "W-What?"

"You mentioned cold could be of help for a headache." He replied casually. "Are you positive this is a mere exhaustion?"

Amazement was still plastered all over her face. Now that she realized that she indeed wasn't hallucinating or dreaming she finally centered on other things. "Your hand is so cold. How?"

"It just happens to be a part of who I am." She could see him tense a bit.

"But you're not always _that _cold." Darcy replied eyeing him "Colder than ice."

Loki winced a bit, still not too comfortable with whole Jotunn thing, knowing for a fact he would probably never manage to accept himself for who he truly was.

"But it's sooooo good." She sighed and grabbed his hand when he wanted to pull it away, afraid of making her uncomfortable.

The God of Mischief blinked a few times in confusion and surprise. Most people, if not everyone he had met in Asgard were practically freaked out by his cold skin that was making him an outcast ever since he could remember. So it was a big surprise for him when someone didn't freak out over the coldness of his skin.

"This is so much better." Darcy smiled lightly, her warm hand contrasting wildly with the coldness of his own. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." Was his own quiet reply, after a few moments of silence.

Darcy smiled as the throbbing pain seemed to lessen drastically in just a few moments. She was always the one who preferred a bit colder weather than unbearable warmth of the sun. Especially in the summer, when she was practically melting outside on sun, while her friends were running around not caring if they receive a sunburn or not.

She remembered when she was little, she often found herself ask mom if, when she grew up, she could move to Antarctica to live with penguins. She was always oddly fascinated by them. In her childish blue eyes, they were always so fluffy, squishy and just…clumsy creatures.

And yet, fate was a funny thing to her, so she somehow ended up spending most of her days in a hot desert, by two crazy scientists and Gods from another realm. Life couldn't turn out weirder for her.

"Loki?"

"Hm?" he looked down at her.

"Could you…lay down?" she asked quietly, yearning for more comfortable coldness of his touch on her feverish skin.

She knew she had taken him by a surprise with her unusual request, but before she could open her mouth to say something, he nodded and slowly lowered himself on soft bed. He wasn't in the same bed with Darcy for the first time, knowing they shared it often in the past, either when one of them was too tired to move to guest room. It was the fact that they were lying so close to each other than made him froze for a moment or two.

Though, even if not completely ordinary, he was indeed a man, and men were never bothered to share a bed with a very attractive woman. So he had literally no objections to it.

"Feeling any better?" he asked slowly, not bothering to look at her.

Darcy was quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say, before she snuggled closer to him and placed her head in the crook of his neck, bringing their bodies together as much as it was possible.

"Now I do."

It was a pure contrast, warmth and cold, so unusual, snuggling to someone so cold, and yet it didn't feel weird or strange at all. His whole body practically radiated cold, and her own gladly absorbed it.

She could feel him still, freeze the moment she put her head and body so intimately close to him, and she wondered whether or not had she done something wrong. She wanted, oh how she wanted to look at his face right now, but couldn't bring herself to move away from such comfortable position.

But her suspicious and wondering were quickly erased the moment he wrapped an arm around her, bringing her even closer if that was even possible. She smiled slightly as she felt him lean his head on rhythmical beating of his heart and steady breathing were the only sounds she heard for a few moments and it successfully managed to make her sleepy.

The last thing she remembered before she had fallen asleep was a light chuckle followed with his small, satisfied voice, that sent different kind of tingles down her spine, making fluttering like feelings in her stomach.

"I'm glad."

And she smiled.


End file.
